For Reece James, the season can be viewed as one of high achievement interrupted midway through by a muscle injury serious enough to keep him from the pitch for a combined 12 whole weeks.Even with the injury, James was only one short of 40 appearances for the season, and his six goals placed him as our eighth top scorer. In fact it goes further than that. During their pomp in the autumn part of the season, James and his fellow wing-back on the opposite flank, Ben Chilwell, were one of the team’s principle attacking threats, given licence by Thomas Tuchel to not only run forward but also to enter the penalty area regularly – adding to the attacking numbers there as an often unpicked-up threat.

Early goal, early card

Also like Chilwell, James did not begin the season as a starter having returned from his summer break later than most due to his presence in the England squad for the Euros, but after the Super Cup and the Premier League opener, by the third game he was back in the starting 11 and made an immediate and outstanding impact, squaring for Romelu Lukaku to score early on and then firing in the second goal of a victory at Arsenal.

A harsh red card for a goal-line handball at Anfield in the following game was a rare setback but despite the penalty conceded, the team left Liverpool with a draw and James was soon back winning for club and country.

The wing twins

He contributed a top-quality goal to the 7-0 thrashing of Norwich and with Chilwell by now back in the side and scoring freely, the attacking weapon that was our wing-backs was now being widely noticed. Tuchel would later confirm he classed that position in this system more as a midfielder than a defender.

Pin-point penalties

James built himself a reputation in 2021/22 as not only a reliable penalty taker but one who could do so in the most pressured situations. In two rounds running of the Carabao Cup he converted the fifth and decisive spot-kick in shoot-outs against Premier League opposition, before later slotting one in the marathon at the end of the final of that competition against Liverpool. He also scored a penalty when the FA Cup final against the same team finished goalless too. Sadly at the end of each of those Wembley occasions, James received a runner-up medal.

The threat in the attacking third of the pitch from James was no better showcased than during our trip to Newcastle in October. Having been frustrated by defensive opponents for over an hour, the England international cracked in a left-foot shot to break the deadlock and followed it soon after with one from his right foot to set us on the way to a 3-0 win. For a period he was our Premier League top scorer.An assist in each of the next two games followed, including a cross for Romelu Lukaku to head home against Burnley, before one of the season highlights – a 4-0 win against Juventus at Stamford Bridge.With a chest-down and clean strike, James was on target as for the first time in a Chelsea Champions League match, there were three different English goalscorers, and all products of our Academy (Trevoh Chalobah and Callum Hudson-Odoi were the other two). It was his one European goal in 2021/22.

Downtime

In December at West Ham, four days before his 22nd birthday, he played his 100th Chelsea game, that milestone reached just over three years after his debut.Chelsea had been top of the table for two months until defeat that day in the Olympic Park but now points began to slip away fairly regularly. James played the pass for Mason Mount to open the scoring at home to Everton but that ended in a draw and with Covid and other injuries (including to Chilwell) biting in midwinter, we could ill afford to lose James for any length of time.

A serious muscle tear suffered in the last game of 2021 kept James out for two months. He then returned briefly (and scored a very skilful opener at Burnley) but needed further time out for full recovery so it was not until April that his season restarted properly started.

By that time the team were in the Champions League quarter-finals, the FA Cup semi-finals and attempting to consolidate third position in the Premier League. On occasions James was asked to play on the right of a back-three including in the Bernabeu where Chelsea so nearly overcame a big first-leg deficit. His pace, power, and calmness in playing out from tight situations caught the eye that night in Spain and those qualities were on display for the rest of the campaign.

James provided a quality assist in each of our last three league games of the season and his final total for supplying assists was just one fewer than Mount’s 10.He goes into next season fully established and full of potential for even more.

Reece James 2021/22 Chelsea stats

Appearances: 39Starts: 31Substituted: 4Unused sub: 8Minutes played: 3.075Goals: 6Assists: 9

Reece James Premier League appearances 2021/22

Reece James played 22 games in the Premier League for Chelsea this season, coming off the bench in four of them.

Reece James Champions League appearances 2021/22

Reece James played six games in the Champions League this season, five of which were starts.

Reece James FA Cup appearances 2021/22

Reece James played three games in the FA Cup this season, with two starts to his name.

Reece James Carabao Cup appearances 2021/22

Reece James made four appearances in the Carabao Cup, two of them as a substitute.

Reece James Super Cup and Club World Cup appearances 2021/22

Reece James missed the Club World Cup due to injury and was an unused sub in the Super Cup.

Reece James goals 2021/22

Reece James scored six goals in 2021/22, five in the Premier League, the other in the Champions League.